After another pair of setbacks last weekend in San Francisco, the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team is home and looking to get back into the win column.
The prognosis on middle blocker Haleigh Hampton isn’t great, but it could have been worse. The junior – who sat out the team’s last three matches after missing all of last season with a shoulder injury – fractured her upper left leg during the third match of the year against Kentucky and is expected to miss a total of four to six weeks.
Hampton could theoretically be back for the 49ers’ third Big West Conference match – a showdown in the Pyramid against No. 10 Hawaii on Oct. 4. But sometime during the team’s three-match home-stand, beginning Oct. 18, is more likely.
The Beach will face it’s immediate future without her, however, as the team returns to action it’s looking to shake off the early-season rust and injury issues with three matches during the Long Beach State/LMU tournament.
The tourney begins Thursday when the ‘Niners (2-4) travel to take on Loyola Marymount (3-3) at 7 p.m.
The Lions are led by junior middle blocker Litara Kiel. The Long Beach native and Poly High alum has tallied 60 kills and 14 digs on .245 hitting.
“LMU is very good at home,” LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “They’re a tournament team with a couple of very good players, and we’ll have to play well to win.”
The action then shifts to the Walter Pyramid for the weekend, where Long Beach will play host to College of Charleston (7-0) on Friday and Seattle University (2-6) Saturday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.
The two ‘Niner opponents will also square off with one another in the Pyramid on Friday at 11 a.m.
The Beach is paced by senior outside hitter Delainey Aigner-Swesey, who has produced 97 kills and 64 digs on .248 hitting.
Gimmillaro said the rocky start to the season can still be overcome if the team continues to grow as a unit.
“We do a lot of things very well,” he said. “It’s just been a really tough period with a lot of stuff going on, and it’s made it difficult for the team. There are little things we don’t do as well. Our attention to detail isn’t good enough; the small things we’re not cleaning up yet, and we have to do those.”